Alpha Squad: Break Down
by shadowxander
Summary: As the Clone Wars rage, Alpha Squad is assigned a mission to a neutral planet where their presence must remain a secret at all costs. Just how high will those costs be? Inspired by the Republic Commando novels of Karen Traviss.


**Alpha Squad: Break Down**

**LAAT/I gunship, en route to Special Operations Brigade HQ**

**from docked cruiser **_**Ambivalence**_**, Coruscant,**

**470 days after Geonosis**

The crew bay of the LAAT/I gunship was devoid of the usual chatter that came with the end of a mission. Instead, a weary silence took its place. The four commandos of Alpha Squad sat and just listened to their own thoughts and the sound of the gunship's drives.

RC-2319—Breeze—laid on his back near the rear of the bay, head resting on his folded hands as he stared at the roof.

RC-2501—Diver—sat near the front, at almost the end of the long, metal supply crate that acted as one of two benches in the crew bay. With a worn and stained rag, he was trying to keep busy by cleaning his weapon. With the DC-17's interchangeable attachments, it was easy to collect sand and grime between the parts when switching during combat.

Alpha Squad's sergeant, RC-4223—Top—had his helmet off, sitting not far behind Diver on the crate. He was carving off chunks from a piece of fruit with a knife and sliding them into his mouth. Across from him, RC-3629—Mack—also had his helmet off as he sat on the other crate-bench. But he wasn't doing anything like eating, or cleaning his weapon. No, he was staring blankly into his helmet's T-visor like a man trying to find his reflection.

They all looked pretty different these days. Under his helmet, Breeze's hair had grown a bit long; he also had a neatly kept beard and mustache now. It was impractical under a helmet, but he swore it "gave him character". Diver had taken to wearing his own hair in a crimson-dyed double mohawk like his old Cuy'val Dar training sergeant, Olan Nuhur. It was a Mandalorian style that had become somewhat popular among the troopers, but Diver wore it to honor his old sergeant, who he'd recently learned passed away. Mack's hair was cut very short, almost matching the facial stubble he now wore. His face also bared the minor cuts and lacerations that had come with this last mission.

In truth, Top was the only one among them who still looked like he had when the war began. If being a clone hadn't already taught him the deceit of appearances, he would know it now. He may have still looked the same, but there was no doubt in the sergeant's mind that he wasn't. None of them were.

Top watched Mack for another minute before getting up and dropping down next to him. He offered Mack the remaining half of the fruit. The uncharacteristically grim commando just looked at it for a moment, then up at his sergeant. He shook his head. Top sighed and gave his brother a pat on the back before leaning against the bay doors. It had been one hell of a mission this time.

**Special Operations Brigade HQ, Coruscant,**

**10 standard minutes later**

Alpha Squad walked into SO Brigade HQ like the boloball team that had just lost the interplanetary championship. Jedi General Arligan Zey was apparently waiting for them, standing just inside the entrance doors. Each of the commandos saluted in turn, but when he said nothing, they walked by and headed for the locker room to be rid of their dirt-coated armor and maybe get a shower.

Zey shook his head quietly after feeling out their moods. When he turned around, he saw Agent Ryne Heath coming down the hall, returning from his insisted-upon meeting with General Camas.

"Are we clean, General?" Agent Heath asked.

"I don't know yet, sir." Zey replied.

Agent Heath huffed impatiently. "Any indication?"

"No, sir, but then there wouldn't be. My men know the time and place for that." said Zey. He had already spent quite a bit of time dealing with Agent Heath's scrutiny of the mission to Aenolia before Alpha Squad had even returned to Coruscant, and he had about had his fill.

"I'll be joining in their debriefing." said Heath. It wasn't a request.

"Agent, if you'll let me handle it—"

"The Chancellor asked the question." Heath interrupted. "He knows there was an incident. Now we can't afford this kind of embarrassment, can we?"

Zey read the implied threat clearly. "Agent, believe it or not, the Jedi Council did not appoint whatever fool happened to be nearest by, to this position. If you let me do my job, you'll have the answer to your question."

Agent Heath's eyebrows rose in surprise, even as his eyes narrowed in anger. "Very well, then. Carry on, General."

Zey gave him a mock-pleasant smile and strode away. "Arrogant, flimsi-shuffler…" he muttered.

**Office of General Arligan Zey, Director of Special Forces,**

**SO Bridge HQ, Coruscant, 470 days after Geonosis**

All four commandos of Alpha Squad stood in front of General Zey's desk, fresh from the showers and wearing clean fatigues. The wounds on Mack's face were still rather obvious but at least now they had been given a washing and treated with antiseptics and bacta.

"We made initial contact outside Barsa, by the Shatalar canals." Top said to General Zey, pointing the position out on the desk holochart.

"How many?" Zey asked.

"Our fella from Republic Intelligence, plus two. And one female guide."

"All Aenolians?"

"Exiles from the Isphahn region, same as our target area." said Mack.

Zey noted that the man sounded like he'd been through the proverbial ringer, and didn't look much better, either. "You crossed the border into the region, where?"

"East of Dahgab, through the mountains." said Breeze, tracing the route for Zey on the holochart.

"Once we were into the Isphahn region, we moved off the main road..." Top began.

**# # # #**

**Zargos Mountains, Aenolia, Mid Rim, 469 days after Geonosis,**

**18 standard hours prior**

The dusty tan repulsortruck swerved around a ridge and into a shallow drop the old back road ran through. Crossing ahead of the truck, however, was a herd of nerf with a young boy leading them.

The driver groaned and stuck his head out the side of the repulsortruck cab. "Maarki! Don lotsmi un'urik durnedahm!" _Idiot! Move before I run you over!_

A black, gloved hand reached up from the cargo hold behind him and gently, yet commandingly gave his arm a squeeze. "Do not engage him." came a powerful voice.

"He is _Bashari_. These people are nomads." said the driver. "His tribe crosses these hills once a year before the cold season hits."

"There'll be more of them." said the woman sitting beside the driver.

The shepherd boy continued shouting in Isphi.

The driver groaned again and looked back into the hold. "He says he wants money."

"Then give it to him."

"It's just a boy." the driver complained.

"With a mouth that can warn others. We get in, get out, with no one the wiser." A small pouch filled with gold and silver ingots was passed forward and the driver reached to take them. "Not you, Vahjra. Her."

The woman nodded and took the pouch, getting out and walking over to the shepherd boy.

"Why Pari?" asked the driver, Vahjra.

"Because she's female. Less intimidating and more likely to get a good reaction from a teenage boy." There was a pause. "And she's just got better people skills then you, Vahj."

Vahjra hid a smirk.

"Ushaala yun vayla." said Pari as she approached the boy. "Bar ut pashaan torey?" _Big herd for one boy. Where is your family?_

The shepherd jerked his head toward over the other side of the ridge.

Pari smiled at him. Vahjra couldn't deny that with her smile alone, Pari could open so many doors he couldn't. "Mar'seen bar tuur, amida. Takesii al orhaana." _We have work to do, too, friend. Take this and we can both be on our way._ She handed him several silver ingots.

"Parah beyorii con kesuro, smarri dey?" _For such a big speeder, you have just this?_ The boy's eyes practically glowed with greed as he looked over both the ingots and Pari, hungrily.

"Shaha burallashia." _It's all I have._

"Urhuudet somas'tesh." _Others pay more._

"Our shepherd sounds cranky." came the voice from the hold.

Vahjra rolled his eyes. "He wants more money…naturally."

"Give it to him. Give him whatever it takes. It's not like it's coming out of my paycheck."

But the boy was already moving toward the truck. Pari chased after him, but he pushed her aside as he tried to peek through the cargo hold's tinted viewports. "Yaramee tollas?" _What are you selling?_

Pari pressed herself between him and the repulsortruck. "Gontayi. Corestay moun lee." _Come on. Don't make trouble._

The boy grinned. "Aha! Kuume saiya rashanteys! Wah, _glitterstim?_ Orsa de negos?" _You're selling spices! Is it glitterstim? How much?_ He pushed by Pari again, running around the back of the truck. But when he looked in through the back, he froze. Instead of spice bags, he found four heavily armed and armored Republic Commandos. "Clones?" He looked panicked, and not one of the men in that truck liked that look. "Clone soulders!" Without warning, he turned a bolted away.

"Baiysa! Bahadey!" Pari called after him. _Wait! Come back!_

He had gotten less then ten meters when a blaster went off and he fell, a burnt hole in his back.

Pari turned around slowly to see one of the commandos—the one they called "Mack"—still aiming out the back, a thin whiff of vapor trailing off the barrel.

**# # # #**

"Did you have options?" asked General Zey.

Mack took a heavy breath. "We could've tied him up, taken him with."

"No." said Top. "He had people nearby. He saw us, and ran."

Zey sighed. "Did you cover your tracks?"

"Buried the body and scattered the herd, sir." said Breeze.

"All right, then." said Zey. "Were there any further incidents of the sort on the way in?"

No one said anything.

"Then I need to know, did we leave anything behind?"

Top spoke up now. "Sir, if you're asking if we're clean—"

"Two-Three, I've got an agent from the Chancellor's office down the hall and half the Jedi Council worried that our actions may have just pushed a neutral planet over to the Separatists." said Zey. "So you need to tell me now—are we clean? And the Force help us all if that answer's _no_."

There was an uncomfortable silence in the office until General Zey spoke again. "Our work here's under a magnifying scope, gentlemen. The last thing the Republic needs is a confrontation with Aenolia that'll push them over to the Separatists." he said. "So we're going to do out damage assessment now and prepare to make any necessary apologies later. Understand?"

"Yes, sir." The four commandos of Alpha Squad were one voice.

"All right. Let's take it from the border."

**# # # #**

**Zargos Mountains, Aenolia, Mid Rim, 469 days after Geonosis,**

**17 standard hours 33 minutes prior**

Breeze looked across the cargo hold at Mack. He was cradling his DC-17 rifle in his lap in a way that made Breeze uneasy. Breeze switched over to private internal comms, just him and Mack. "You good, ner vod?"

Mack looked up slowly and nodded. "Yeah."

Breeze wasn't convinced. "Yeah?"

"Yeah, vod'ika. _Wer'cuy_." _Forget it. _Even as he said it, Mack knew _he_ wouldn't. It ate at him for a reason he couldn't put his finger on. The boy hadn't been a combatant. And there was the fact he'd just that, a _boy_. _Why should that bother me? I'm 11; he had to be at least 15 years old. Has four years on me. That doesn't make it better, though; a life is still a life, and his was cut short by some _di'kutla _random chance._

Mack was jarred out of his thoughts by the repulsortruck's sudden sputtering. The vehicle jerked, then slowed to a stop, followed by a loud hissing.

"Well, ain't that the picture of ugliness." Top grumbled under his breath. He got out while the other man, named Rahjor, slipped under the front of the truck. When Rahjor let out a sigh and started muttering in Isphi, Top recognized the sound of bad news right away, even in another language. "The nearest repair shop is 5000 kliks, gentlemen. I'm open to suggestions."

"Hamuun ishi'at serron, as aluraad der urneht." said Rahjor, climbing back out from under the repulsortruck. "Eles mar tuor, parnets adev mi."

"He says there's a problem with the cooling unit." Vahjra translated for Top. "It's bad, but he says he can fix it with time."

Top shoot his head. "Now's the time I need transportation over translation. If we don't get to the target by night, it doesn't get done." He walked around the back where the rest of Alpha Squad was already out and packing up the gear. "You guys psychic?"

Diver laughed dryly. "Sarge, if we were psychic, you think we'd be standing here in the hot _shabla_ right now?"

Now Top let out a chuckle. "Good point." He looked over the assembled kit. "Only the essentials, now. Everything else, we leave."

"Got it, Top." said Mack. He was on one knee not far away, stuffing a second pack to carry. As he glanced up, he spotted the guide. She had introduced herself as Pari Mia, but in Mack's brain she was quickly earning the label of _Distraction_. He just wasn't sure if she was of the dangerous variety, or the welcome one.

Pari was incredibly beautiful. Without his helmet, Mack was sure he would've been caught staring several times now. Deep, scarlet-colored hair cascaded down around her face from under the caramel-toned headdress most of the female Aenolians wore. Her eyes were like gold, both intense and alluring; together with her red hair, they made Mack think of fire.

He looked up again, and this time she walked over. Pari reached into her bag and pulled out a small parcel. "Sandwich?" she offered. Mack took it and with his thumb, pushed aside a bit of the wrapping. It was sliced roba and some kind off cheese; even with his helmet on, it smelled delicious. Pari must have mistaken his silence, for she asked, "What, were you expecting nerf brains or something?"

Mack felt his face burn. "No, ma'am." he said apologetically. "Thank you."

Her expression softened. "You're welcome…Mack, yes?" He nodded. "You can call me Pari, Mack."

He found that for once, he really _wanted_ to. _Ma'am_ just didn't seem enough for this woman. "Thank you, Pari."

She smiled briefly, before her expression turned to concern. Pari squatted down in front of him and reached out to touch his shoulder. "You did the only thing, with the boy."

That was the last thing in the galaxy, Mack wanted to talk about right then. "I'll tell you, sympathy's worth less and less, the further you get toward the Outer Rim."

Pari just stared at the blank T-visor for a moment. "He had to be killed."

"Aren't you the hard one?" Mack scoffed.

"I'm practical."

Mack sighed and tried to change the subject. "How long have you been away from here?"

"Twelve years." said Pari.

"Family run out by the Molha government?"

"Something like that." Something changed in her eyes and right away, Mack realized he'd found her sensitive subject. Pari stood up, and dusted the dirt off her long-skirt. "Eat. It's a long way from here on foot." As she walked away, Mack reached up and pulled off his helmet. On a whim, Pari glanced back over her shoulder. When she saw Mack without his helmet, though, she stopped and turned halfway around; only Top had been without his helmet when they all met. "You look different then your sergeant." she said. "You're quite handsome."

Mack had never been told he looked different then any of his clone brothers, even with his hair cut and with what his training sergeant had called an "0500 shadow"; let alone _handsome_. He didn't know what to say. He honestly didn't know if his mouth would even work if he _did_ try to say something. His mouth worked, but only to take a large bite of the sandwich Pari had given him. After all, Mack needed something to cover up the guilty smile that was quickly sneaking across his face.

Over by the truck, Vahjra was staring over Breeze's shoulder. "These device...the, um, probes…how do they work?" he asked while Breeze loaded them up.

"It's a little complicated to go into." he said.

Vahjra let out an offended huff. "Why? Because you think I'm a simple shopkeeper, I cannot understand?"

Breeze rolled his eyes and held out one of the probes. "Okay, look. We bury these monitors around the target site. If the probes detect any weapons isotopes like the Senate's afraid, they'll send a signal back to this transmitter over here."

"And then?" asked Vahjra.

"The transmitter shoots the data over to Coruscant." said Diver.

_Not too busy to eavesdrop, I see,_ thought Breeze.

"No, I mean, what—then what happens?" Vahjra said. "You have your proof that the Baron Magistrate lied and he's making weapons for Count Dooku. What are you going to do, then?"

Pari seemed tuned into their conversation, now.

"More debates in the Senate?" continued Vahjra. "More empty sanctions and threats? What?"

"That's not our call." said Top.

Now Pari spoke, and it had none of the previous warmth. "But your job will be done, correct?"

Top sighed. "Once we get the probes in, yes. The decision will be out of our hands, ma'am." _Ain't it always?_

**# # # #**

**Office of General Arligan Zey, Director of Special Forces,**

**SO Bridge HQ, Coruscant, 470 days after Geonosis**

Top stood at the left of General Zey's desk, pointing out positions on the geographical mapchart up on the large viewscreen. "Traveling by foot, we made it to the target area after dark, moving more freely with the cover of darkness."

"Which was part of the problem." said Diver.

"We ran sims of it plenty of times in the dark." Mack snipped. "That wasn't the problem."

Top shot him a look, but said nothing except to Zey. "Before, we ran it without guides—which is to say, without having to babysit, sir."

Zey rubbed his chin and nodded. "You had your eye on the target, but who had their eye on the team?"

"I had overwatch." said Mack.

Diver shook his head. "Not 'till later. I took the first handoff, remember?"

"Diver's right." said Breeze.

"That's not what the general's asking." said Mack, that edge to his voice again.

"No, I'm asking about the _misadventure_, as some will refer to it in diplomatic circles." said Zey. "I'm asking when we looked left when we should've been looking right."

**# # # #**

**Target zone, Wambiir Flatlands, Aenolia, Mid Rim,**

**469 days after Geonosis,**

**12 standard hours 25 minutes prior**

Insects buzzed around the team, laid out behind a long dirt mound. Top almost felt sorry for Alpha Squad's two guides who didn't have the protection of sealed Katarn armor. Only _almost_ because after a few minutes, he noticed the persistent bugs seemed uninterested in the Aenolia natives.

_Maybe they just find us clones more fascinating_, Top mused.

All four commandos were staring through high-spec macrobinoculars, at the rough-looking facility just down the embankment. There were a few small permacrete buildings inside an unmaintained fence, but most of the complex seemed to be large transpari-plast greenhouses. At least that's what was on the surface; there was no telling yet what may have been hidden underground.

"Doesn't look like much." said Diver. "A couple greenhouses, equipment sheds, a pump house. Not a lot goin'—ah, that's interesting. Check out that irrigation system, _vode_. Infrared."

The pipelines feeding either into or out of the pump house were showing up as white-hot.

"Well, now," said Top, "lit up like neon."

"That's hot water." said Mack.

"Well, I guess that rules it out as an agricultural center." Top said dryly.

"Oh, I don't know," said Breeze, the smile apparent in his voice, "maybe it's a _steamed_ vegetable farm."

Top laughed in the privacy of their helmet link before handing the macrobinoculars over to Pari and switched on his audio projector. He pointed to a sign over the pipeline. "What's that sign say?"

She held the macrobinoculars to her eyes for a moment. "Caution: Extreme high pressure valve."

"Leading into the pump house and probably underground. Could be signs of a weapons facility." said Top. He pushed himself up unto his knees. "All right, let's go to work. Fifteen standard minutes, then back here." Top looked over at Mack. "You've got the high ground, ner vod."

* * *

"Breeze, what's your status?" asked Mack.

"Hole's dug, probe's in place." said Breeze. "Just gotta bury it. How we looking?"

Mack smiled. "Clear eyes, clear skies. The guards must be watching the game." He didn't know _what_ game, or if there even was one on. It was just something his old training sergeant used to say for times like this. "We've got six minutes until link up."

With the night vision filter in place, Mack slowly swept from the east side of the complex to the west. But when something moved along the side of the pump house, he froze. Zooming in a few degrees, he saw Vahjra arguing with Pari. He shoved her away and rushed through the door to the pump house.

"Pari, what the _shab's_ going on down there?" Mack demanded.

Pari pressed a finger to her ear and the bead comlink there. "You've got to come! It's Vahjra—he's going to ruin the mission."

"Mack, what's going on?" Top cut in.

"Don't worry, I'm on it, Top." Mack jumped up, hooked the macrobinoculars on his belt, and went charging down the embankment.

Pari ran inside after Vahjra. Mack raced through the complex and pushed through the pump house door. Pari was standing over Vajra, who was working at a piece of machinery.

"Get out, now!" barked Mack.

"He's got explosives!" Pari said, looking panicked.

"Vahjra, back away!" Mack order. "I said _back off!_"

Vahjra did take a step back, but then jammed a detonator into the thick chunk of plastoid explosive. "We have five minutes. Let's go."

"Are you out of your mind? Pull it out!" shouted Mack.

"No! This is where the real danger hides! Can you afford another weapon like _Malevolence_ to fall into enemy hands?" Vahjra said. Mack started forward to pull the detonator himself. "By destroying this—"

_Boom!_

**# # # #**

"Didn't make five minutes." said Mack.

"Home-made detonators." said Diver. "Count on them to be unreliable."

Zey sighed and dragged his hand slowly down his face, frustrated. "It was communicated to them by Intel: get in black, go out black, leaving nothing behind." He crossed his arms in front his chest and shook his head.

"Intelligence liaison assured us the man was on board before we met." said Top.

"He was on board," said Breeze, "He just wasn't on message."

"And we didn't think to frisk him for ordnance." Diver grimaced to himself. As Alpha Squad's de facto explosives man, he blamed himself for that one.

"Well, while Two-Nine was getting his rear blown off, the rest of you were where?" asked Zey.

**# # # #**

_Boom!_

Top jumped up and spun around, dropping the short shovel and grabbed his Deece. "_Haar'chak! _Mack, we've got a situation down here. What's going on?" The was no answer. "Mack? Mack?!"

"Sarge, you've got company headed for your _shebs!_" Breeze called.

Top turned around and fired, taking down two guards. "Tactics change. Fire and maneuver; nobody sees us and lives. We've gotta stay in the black, _vode_."

Blasterfire from Deeces erupted all across the compound.

Mack opened his eyes slowly. His head was pulsing and his ears were ringing loudly. That's when he realized his HUD was gone. In fact, he was missing the whole front half of his helmet. He reached up slowly to touch his face; there were several cuts from his shattered visor, and tears were streaming down his face from the dust in his eyes. Somehow, no fragments had been lodged in the skin and the wounds were all mostly superficial. The rest of him seemed in working order as well, no blood anywhere else, and no lack of feeling.

Mack started to get to his feet when he noticed a large piece of piping next to him that now donned segments of scraped camo paint, no doubt the culprit responsible for his bloody face. Once on his feet, Mack reached up and pried off what was left of his helmet, letting it fall unceremoniously to the floor.

It was hard to see inside the confined chamber, the dust and smoke stifling. What he did managed to see was a tangled mess of pipes and machinery mixed with blasted bits of the wall and roof. Mack also found what remained of Vahjra, and it wasn't much at all.

_What about Pari?!_

"Pari!" he shouted, though he could still barely hear himself. He came down the steps, squinting through the dirt cloud. "Pari!" That's he saw her, stuck beneath a clump of massive lengths of pipe, struggling to pull herself out to no avail "Oh _fierfek,_ Pari…"

The door flew open behind him. "Mack?!" he heard Top call down, his tone uncensored fear for his brother.

"She's over here!" Mack yelled, completely forgetting himself. He dropped down next to her. "Can you breathe?" She nodded quickly before Mack tried to push the largest pipe—the one really pinning her down—off, finding no more success then she did.

"_Wayii!_" Top exclaimed as he rushed down the stairs. "What happened?"

"Vahjra blew the place up with some plastoid explosive." Mack grunted as he continued to push. Top didn't hesitate for an instant before joining him in trying to free Pari. "_Shabla_ thing won't budge!" After another moment or two, they pulled back; all three were breathing hard. "She's stuck…"

Top groaned and exhaled harshly. "No worse then the rest of us."

**# # # #**

"Were you at risk of contamination from any isotopes?" asked Zey.

Top shook his head. "No, sir. The pump had a check valve containing any waste water."

Satisfied, Zey moved on. "What about the girl? Other then being trapped, did she sustain any injuries in the blast?"

Before Top could answer, Mack spoke. "I couldn't get a real fix on her condition at that point, but she seemed to be in—"

The office door swung open and Agent Heath suddenly barged in. "General, I'm going to need those answers now."

Zey walked over quickly and lowered his voice. "Sir, I suggest we handle this—"

Once again, Heath had no issue with interrupting Zey. "General, the ambassador from Aenolia is filing for an investigation by the Senate. We need a response."

"We'll have a response."

"I want to hear it from the clones directly." said Heath.

"This is _my_ responsibility." Zey argued. "They're _my_ men, and this is _my_ command."

"Then don't make me take it away from you."

Zey's eyes narrowed and he intensely considered using a bit of mind influence to make this self-righteous suit take a nice long walk. _Maybe to one of the Centax moons_, Zey thought. But it wasn't a very Jedi thing to do, and the "request"—if it could even be called that—came from the Chancellor's office.

Zey walked back toward his desk to face the four commandos who, like the good soldiers they were, hadn't even turned around. "Gentlemen, Agent Heath will be joining us for the remainder of the debriefing, which—from this point on—will be handled on an individual basis and in a more official capacity. Understand?"

"Yes, sir." Alpha Squad replied as a whole.

"Good. Oh-One, you're up first." said Zey. "The rest of you will be called upon as needed. Until that time, hold yourselves in readiness. That is all, dismissed."

**Office of General Arligan Zey, Director of Special Forces,**

**SO Bridge HQ, Coruscant, 470 days after Geonosis**

"Our immediate priority was to maintain cover and secure the area." said Diver. "We'd taken out seven enemy combatants and removed their bodies from the field."

"Are you certain there were only seven?" asked Agent Heath.

"Sir, if you're asking were there others, I believe the answer is no, sir."

"You _believe?_" Heath said incredulously. "But can you be certain that none got away?"

Diver, testing his luck, decided to just play _mir'sheb_ and give him a look.

Heath huffed, rolled his eyes, and leaned back in General Zey's chair. Zey had been relegated to a seat off to the side, and looked none too pleased about it. "All right, let me hear it from the explosion."

"Sir, the sun was coming up and we had to set our exfil out of there. The problem, of course, was the girl still being stuck in the pump house."

"Who was on overwatch at this point?"

Diver decided Heath must have had some sort of military training, because very few suited civvies knew what "overwatch" was without an explanation. "It had been Two-Nine before the explosion, sir. But we knew he was feeling—"

"I didn't ask how anyone was _feeling_." Heath said coolly, "Who had overwatch?"

Diver took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. "At that point, sir, no one."

Heath rolled his eyes again and mouthed _Of course_, silently to himself.

Diver continued anyway. "We were all needed inside…"

**# # # #**

"On my count," Top said to the four assembled commandos, preparing to lift a large section of piping, "Three…two…one!" There was a collective grunting and groaning from the squad as they strained. It didn't move an inch. "Again. Three…two…one!"

"Watch that strut, it's the only thing keeping it from crushing her!" Mack warned as they heaved and pulled.

After another few moments of struggling, they had to stop.

"_Shabla_ thing's gotta weigh a ton, Sarge." said Breeze.

"You can't give up." Pari said, fearfully.

Top shook his head. "Well, it ain't working this way. Breeze, go for the truck. Diver, go keep an eye out in case the nerf cavalry shows up." They nodded and took off up the stairs. "Mack, stay with her while I go look around and forage for anything useful. We've still got a lot of heavy lifting to do." Top gave Mack a quick pat on the shoulder, then disappeared up after the others.

Once the rest of his squad was gone, Mack crouched down next to Pari and took out his water canteen. He carefully lifted her head and held the canteen to her lips to let her drink. She looked pretty bad. Small scrapes covered her cheeks and chin, and a deep cut ran down her forehead and between her eyebrows at an angle. But yet, Mack still found her breathtakingly beautiful. "How you doing?"

She swallowed and Mack pulled back the canteen. "My legs are on fire."

"How about your arms, can you feel them?"

"Just my fingers." Pari replied.

Mack was quiet for a moment. "Why did you just let him go through with it?"

"Vahjra was never a realist." she said. "What can one man do by himself without getting the rest of us killed?"

"I thank you." Mack said, barely summoning up more then a whisper.

"Don't thank me," Pari said, "just get me out." She smiled at him and without the protection of his helmet's visor, Mack just smiled back.

Mack reached down and stroked her scarlet hair softly, trying to be comforting.

"Sir, the way the terrain laid out, by the time I'd see enemy reinforcements, it'd be too late for exfil or adequate response." said Diver.

Agent Heath took a long sip from the cup of caf Zey had brought in. "Did you attempt to communicate this back to the top?"

"For diplomatic concerns, we were instructed to keep to short-range comms." Diver explained. "But that didn't mean that I couldn't eavesdrop on their transmissions…"

Diver walked into the greenhouse where they had stashed the bodies. One of them had a live comlink that was broadcasting someone's agitated voice. He went over and ran their pockets until the comlink in question was found. He picked it up and immediately turned up the voice projector, listening to the growing chatter.

* * *

Top rolled the old, empty fuel barrel over in front of the pipe on top of Pari. He then grabbed a long section of durasteel support bar and jammed it under the pipe and over the barrel, forming a large lever.

"Okay, if you feel this pipe raise up just a little bit, Pari, you slide forward." he said.

Mack stood right beside him, at the ready. "Do the best you can. I'll help you."

Pari nodded, breathing quickly in anticipation.

"Ready?"

"Do it." she said.

Top and Mack pulled down with all their strength, putting all their weight into it. All that happened, however, was the fuel barrel crumpled under the pressure.

"_Shabii'bic!_" Mack growled. He could feel his sarge's concerned gaze but ignored it.

"I picked up on something." said Diver, bounding down the stairs, holding up the enemy comlink.

"Is it ADF?" asked Top. ADF: Aenolia Defense Force, their own well-trained planetary army.

"It could be." said Diver. "They keep saying _'Espazeer'_."

"_Espazar_." said Pari. "It means explosion. Let me hear."

Diver crouched down and held the comlink to her ear. "Any word about us?"

"They're outside Yazat. Two, maybe two and a half hours south of here." said Pari.

"How many?" asked Top.

"It's not clear. I can hear three officers talking. That's forty, fifty troops."

Diver got up shaking his head. "Wonderful."

Top put a hand on Diver's shoulder. "We've been there before, vod'ika."

Diver let out a humorless laugh. "Yeah, and those were all real fun times, Sarge. Real fun times."

None of them needed reminding, none of them ever would.

**# # # #**

"I went back to the roadside for the repulsortruck. There was only two hours to get there and back to pull out the squad before enemy troops got to 'em first." said Breeze.

"I though the journey was close to five hours on foot." said Agent Heath.

"It is, sir. Luckily, I found a speeder bike stashed in the equipment shed at the complex that allowed me to cut transit time in half." Breeze said. "That is, until we hit the wall."

"The wall?" This time it was General Zey that asked the question, though it was obvious that Heath had been about to ask the same.

"Sir, I'd heard of these things before, but never seen one for myself. I don't know what they call 'em locally, but the Mando word is _vhe'buurenaar_." Breeze shook his head with a sigh. "There was no chance."

**# # # #**

Breeze pushed the accelerator on the speeder bike he had managed to dig out of the compound's equipment shed. It wasn't exactly up to GAR specs, but it ran and ran fast. It was all that mattered at times such as these.

He had just cleared the large field of sharp, waist-high grass they'd had to walk through previously, and jumped a steep hillside when he suddenly jerked the bike to a stop. The entire horizon was a great brown mass, stretching over a thousand feet into the sky, and quickly approaching.

"_Shab, shab, shab!_" Breeze spat, jumping off the bike and checking his suit's seals. He shut down his helmet's exterior ventilation and curled into a ball as close to the ground as he could. "Sarge, this Breeze! I'm hung up two miles from the repulsortruck!" The wind howled in his ears until his helmet's audio filters turned the outside world silent. "Visibility zero! I say again: I _cannot_ reach the vehicle!" Massive amounts of sand whipped against his armor plates and helmet as the powerful sandstorm consumed him. With nothing else to do now, Breeze just closed his eyes and thought of happier times, like his day off with his brothers and Sergeant Skirata, enjoying the more interesting parts of Galactic City.

**# # # #**

Top stood quietly across the desk from Agent Heath. He couldn't help but find himself disliking the man. The agent held too high of an opinion of himself for the sergeant's taste. He also didn't seem to respect General Zey nor Top's squad, the more personal of his offenses.

"Continue, Sergeant." said Heath, sounding almost bored as he looked over a few flimsi files.

"We buried the probing monitors in four different quadrants, a few hundred yards apart." said Top. "So retrieving them took some time."

"But no other personnel were on the site?" asked Zey.

"The place appeared to be deserted, sir." Top replied.

Agent Heath turned a page in the file without bothering to even look at Top. "Deserted, you say? Unusual for a weapons facility."

"If it was."

Now Heath _did_ look up, and he glared intently at Top. "You think we were wrong?" he asked, daring Top to answer. "Huh, trooper? We sent you all that way for nothing?"

Top didn't take the bait, but he didn't shy away either. "All I know is the mission was a bust. The question was whether we could get ourselves and our kit out before the ADF got us first."

"Well," said Heath, sounding none too impressed, "you made it back, clearly. But did you get out clean?"

**# # # #**

Top reached up under the equipment shed's roof overhang, retrieving the transmitter. It had been hidden so that it would impossible to see and could only be found by someone feeling in the place where they already knew it to be.

"North probe and transmitter recovered, Diver. What's your count?"

"I've got two up, one more to go." Diver replied. "Any word on our friends from the ADF?"

"Last check, they're southeast of Isphahn."

"How much time does that give us?"

"That depends." said Top. "How fast can you run?"

"Oh, hah…hah." Diver deadpanned.

But Top wasn't listening. Amongst the junk strewn around the outside of the equipment shed, he spotted an ancient-looking metal pulley hoist. Without a second thought, Top snatched it up and went running for the pump house.

"Will it work?" asked Mack as he looped the durasteel chain around the largest of the pipes crushing Pari.

"We'll _make_ it work." said Top, climbing down the rickety ladder after bolting the hoist to a ceiling strut. "What do we have for cribbing?"

"Permacrete blocks in the corner." said Mack. He grabbed a block, carrying it two-handed over to the pipe, then got another one. As he set the second block into place, he looked over at Pari. "You hang in there. We'll get you out this time."

"When this thing starts to move, slip in the shim." said Top.

"Got it."

Top grabbed the thick chain and pulled until the slack went taught. "All right, here we go." He took a firm grip and tugged, hand over hand, the hoist magnifying the commando's already impressive strength nearly tenfold.

"I think it's moving." Pari grunted.

"Can you slide out?" Mack asked.

"A little."

Metal groaned as Top continued to struggle with the chain. Mack knelt beside Pari, trying to help ease her out from under the rubble. "We're getting there…" Top growled. Sweat poured off his brow and started to steam up the inside of his visor. Metal scraped and there was a collective panting. "Let's…go…"

Pari squeezed out a few inches when suddenly the hoist broke, Top fell back, and fifty pounds of metal came rushing straight down toward her face. A blur of brown and grey swept over her, and the broken hoist crashed against Mack's backplate before clattering to the floor.

There was a moment of tense silence that came with a narrowly avoided disaster. Top exhaled slowly, and Mack groaned as he opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw were Pari's eyes, gold and striking. They were nose to nose. Are you all right?" Pari asked, not louder then a whisper.

"Yeah." said Mack, not taking his eyes off hers. "Are you?"

"Yes." Pari leaned her head forward to nod, Mack didn't move; their noses touched and her lips brushed against his. They stared at each other for a fraction of a second before they both gave in and kissed.

**# # # #**

"What did you do after the hoist broke?" asked Agent Heath.

Top decided a hole so small as to give his brother what privacy he could surely wouldn't impact the report. "I had to reestablish contact with Alpha One-Nine."

"I mean, about the girl." said Heath.

_Of course you do._ "It was meaningless to get her out, if we didn't have a way out for ourselves."

"Was your man able to repair the repulsortruck's cooling unit? Rahjor, was it?" asked Zey.

"Yes, sir, he was." said Top.

It did not go unnoticed to Agent Heath, that he hadn't received the same respectful "sir" that the sergeant had given Zey.

"Rather gifted, isn't he?" Zey said to himself.

Top smirked. "Amazing what you can fix with some adhesive tape and a strong will, General."

Zey smiled, but Heath just sneered. "Shall we get back to what's important, Sergeant? Or do you have any other less then amusing pearls of wisdom to share?"

**# # # #**

"Breeze, the local welcoming committee 's on its way." Top said over his helmet comm. "Approaching from the southeast."

Diver was sitting on the stairs, still listening to the enemies' stolen comlink. "What's 'Nasul emuzen'? It comes up a lot."

"_Nahzul-em-Mazen_ is a famous shrine near Nafa." said Pari.

"How far?" asked Top.

"Eight, maybe six kliks."

Top retreated back to his helmet comm. "Breeze, how close are you?" When he got the answer, he switched back to exterior audio. "Just passing Dabarafja."

"He'll make it here first." Pari said.

"By how much?" asked Mack. "We can use the truck to get her out."

"We gotta move fast. Let's get this gear out of here." said Top, heading for the stairs.

Mack couldn't help but notice his question hadn't been answered. He jumped up from Pari's side and caught Top by the arm, forcefully turning him around. "By how much?"

Top jerked his head toward the door. Grudgingly, Mack followed him up and out of range for Pari to hear.

"By how much, Top?"

"Look, Mack, I'm not gonna lie to you, ner vod." Top said quietly. "It's gonna be close. We might be able to do this, but chances aren't looking great. I know you have some feelings for—"

"I never said anything about any feelings, Top." said Mack.

Top popped his helmet off to look his brother in the eye. "I'm not one of the _shabuire_ you have to play 'hard-case commando' to, Mack. I'm your brother, I understand. I'm not saying no, I'm just saying that you should be ready."

Mack swallowed heavily and sighed. "All right, Top."

Satisfied, Top went back to help Diver do a final sweep.

_I'll be ready, all right. _Mack checked the ammo readout on his Deece. _I may not be smart, but I'll be ready._ He had two EMP grenades and half a dozen anti-armor ones. He checked the DC-17's PEP laser attachment and prayed he wouldn't have to use it. _Pari said about fifty troops_. Mack started looking for firing positions. _When those _chakaare _come, I'll be ready. 'Cause I sure the _shab _ain't leaving Pari here._

**Office of General Arligan Zey, Director of Special Forces,**

**SO Bridge HQ, Coruscant, 470 days after Geonosis**

"It was approximately 0900, local time." said Top. "By our estimate, the ADF was twenty standard from our position. The area had been cleared and removed of all evidence of our presence there."

"What about Vahjra's body?" asked Agent Heath, now pacing behind General Zey's death.

"We left what remained at the bomb site. A casualty of his own terrorism."

Heath nodded. "He had a known history with the Aenolian government. Wouldn't be inconsistant."

_Hence, why I did it, you over-inflated _or'dinii, Top thought behind his placid exterior.

"What about the girl?" asked Zey. "Was she aware of how close the enemy was at the time?"

"Sir, what she was aware of or not aware of was outside my primary concern." said Top.

"You didn't apprise her of the gravity of the situation?" Heath asked.

"I left her with Alpha Two-Nine."

"But _you_ were there. You didn't do your job, Sergeant?"

"I was otherwise engaged."

**# # # #**

Mack crouched in front of a section of pipe, resecuring the lengths of chain. "When the truck gets here, we'll hook it up to the chain, and pull this hunk of _osik_ off of you." he said.

"Will there be enough time?" Pari asked.

"Won't take but a few minutes." said Mack, pulling the remaining section of chain out to full length to test how much he'd need. _Good, there's enough to reach_.

"But if you can't?"

Mack knelt and kissed her again, savoring every instant. When he pulled back, she smiled at him. "Never tell a commando there's something he can't do. It'll only make him do it bigger, better, and with an ongoing sense of ego." He flashed her a smile and went back to work securing the chains.

Pari—though she found herself wanting to believe every word that came from the man's mouth and smile along with him—wasn't as convinced. "If you can't, and you have to leave—"

"We're not leaving you here. _I'm_ not leaving you here." Mack said firmly.

"But they'll outnumber you." said Pari.

"We can handle ourselves."

"Against fifty men?"

"I've had worse odds then 50 to 1." Mack said. He regretted saying it almost immediately. Not because it was a lie or even bravado—he'd fought off more battle droids then he could count at times—but because once out of his mouth, it made his plans seem solid.

"Stop for a moment and listen to the realest." said Pari. She realized she had practically yelled at him. "Your boss is right. They cannot learn you will ever here. And if they find me, they will kill me…but not before torturing me first."

"I won't let that happen." Mack said, shaking his head vehemently.

"You'd risk your life and the life of your team to save me?"

"They're leaving. But I'm going to stay and protect you." said Mack. "They can say I went rogue. Wouldn't be the first clone to do it, and they wouldn't be lying."

"They'll just leave you behind?"

Mack glanced over at his Deece's PEP laser. "I can be persuasive. And Rahjor can drive."

"Say you fight, but they manage to kill you. I'll still be here and you'd have died for nothing." said Pari, growing desperate for Mack to think clearly. "They will make me tell them everything. They will. So listen to reason! If you can't get me out, go. And don't leave me here alive."

"Pari…"

Neither of them saw Top standing at the door. They never heard him sigh. And they never saw him shake his head sadly, and leave.

**# # # #**

Mack sat silently before General Zey's desk, looking down at his hands in his lap. When the office door opened and Zey walked in, with Agent Heath just behind, Mack stood quickly to attention. Zey nodded and gestured for him to sit at ease.

"Alpha Two-Nine, we have a fairly comprehensive report from other members of your unit on the exfil from Aenolia." said Heath, flipping through a file as he talked. "What I need from you are specifics about the girl."

"Well, I understand that, sir, but that's not gonna happen here." said Mack.

Zey looked visibly surprised. Heath, on the other hand, looked outraged.

"Excuse me, trooper?" Heath snapped.

"I believe I spoke distinctly, sir." Mack replied, staring straight forward.

"Two-Nine," said Zey, "I am _ordering_ you to answer Agent Heath's questions."

"Sir, we can sit here from now to the end of the galaxy, but I will have nothing further to say to Agent Heath on the current subject."

Heath whirled around the desk. "I need to know what happened, and I need to know _now!_"

"Sir, that is between me and—"

Heath leaned over and glared at Mack. "Do you know how miserable I can make your life, _clone?!_" he yelled.

Mack didn't even flinch. "Sir, I do."

"Did your team get out clean in relation to the girl?"

"Sir, as I have already explained to you earlier, _yes_."

Heath practically roared. "_I need specifics!_" Suddenly, Heath jerked back away from Mack with such force, neither he or Mack could even begin to hide their surprise.

"Agent!" General Zey looked absolutely livid as he stormed across the room and threw the door open without pressing a button. "How about you and I take this down the hall and see how we can resolve this issue to everyone's gain?" Heath looked ready to protest when Zey narrowed his eyes said, "Let's do it now while my request remains a request."

The two men stared at each other for a few beats before Heath relented, no doubt in no small part to Zey parting his robes so the agent could see the lightsaber on his belt. They walked out again, leaving Mack alone with his thoughts.

**# # # #**

Top and Diver ran to welcome the repulsortruck as it pulled into the compound with Rahjor at the control yoke and Breeze riding passenger.

"How was traffic?" Top asked as they got out. He was more then a little surprised to find Breeze in what looked liked a new grey suit of Katarn armor, albeit sand-covered in certain areas.

"Traffic wasn't a problem." Breeze muttered. "_Vhe'buurenaare_ are a different story, but traffic wasn't."

"You'll have to tell me about it later, ner vod." said Top, tossing kit into the truck's cargo hold. "Aenolian army's about three kliks out."

"Better revise that, Sarge. We saw 'em coming from the south on our way in."

"_Shab!_"

"Did we get the girl out?" asked Breeze.

As if on cue, Mack came jogging over. "Come on, let's get this crate hooked up so we can get Pari out."

"We're out of time, Mack." said Top, shaking his head.

"It'll just be a minute. Everything's already—"

"Mack, that's a minute we don't have." said Top. "We've gotta go _now_."

Breeze pointed over beyond the southern most greenhouse. "They are _right there_, Mac'ika."

"Yeah…I know."

There was a brief pause between Top and Mack, Sergeant and Private, brother and brother. Nothing was said in that moment, though nothing needed to be. Even with his helmet on, Mack knew the look of empathetic sorrow that Top wore. And even through those scornful eyes that screamed hate at the world, Top saw the little boy from Kamino still crying inside of Mack. All these years, he'd hidden behind two hardened masks. Both were breaking down now.

"I'll do it." Top said at last.

"No," said Mack.

"We can't just—"

"I'll do it." Mack said, turning quickly and walking down into the blasted out pump house. Mack had hoped for a miracle, hoped that when he walked back down those steps, Pari would be on her feet, smiling—anything but how he had left her. But there she was: still trapped, still bleeding from her scrapes and cuts, and still so out-of-place pretty that Mack couldn't help thinking this was some sick joke the Force or some other awful power was playing on them all.

"I'm ready." said Pari.

"I'm not." Mack found his voice wasn't half as solid as Pari's.

"You shot that boy." she said.

"That was different…"

"How? Because you didn't know him?"

"That's right, Pari, I—" _Because I…_

"What makes you think you know _me?_" Pari said, her tone every bit as frozen as his was watery. "I was six when the ADF came to my home."

"For your father?"

"And my brother. They tortured them both. They drove nails into their hands and cut off their fingers…they did horrible things to my mother, and to me." said Pari, her lip quivering as she spoke. "I just wish I could take some of those animals with me…for what they did."

"You're brave." Mack whispered.

"No," said Pari, "I have no choice. Just like you have no choice."

Mack got up and stepped around the rubble.

"Where are you going?"

"There's some plast-explo still here." said Mack, peeling it up.

"Undetonated?"

Mack turned around and knelt beside her. "You want to take 'em with you?" Pari just nodded, breathless. "All right, I'm gonna place this in your hand. You wait until you hear them arrive, and you set it off. You think you can do that?"

"Yes, I got it." said Pari. "Thank you."

"Just let me get you a detonator." said Mack, getting up and walking around behind her. "About five minutes, that's all it should take. Keep your eyes on the door."

"Right." Pari whispered to herself. "I hear them first, then press the detonator. I can do this."

"That's right." Mack stepped back, just out of her visual range. He drew his sidearm and aimed down, two-handed.

"I can do this. For my family. For you…for…for never getting a chance." Pari said quietly.

His eyes burned, and hot tears seared streaks in the dirt and blood down his face. He aimed, just as he'd done a thousand times before. But now he closed his eyes and felt his jaw shake as his finger curled around the trigger, crying for the first time in seven years.

"Mack…before you go…I have to tell you, I—"

One shot.

"Me too, Pari."

**# # # #**

"You did what you had to do." said General Zey. "If she would've made a mistake with that detonation—" He shook his head quietly. "So everything else is explainable. Native rebels botching an act of sabotage."

Mack just nodded quietly, looking down at his finger, unconsciously pulling a ghost trigger over and over.

Zey leaned back in his chair, took a deep breath, and ran a hand over his hair. "You can go. I'll manage Agent Heath."

Mack got up slowly, and offered an unofficial salute before heading for the door.

"I'm here…_Mack_…if you need to talk." Zey said. "I'm sure General Jusik feels the same."

"Thank you, sir." Mack replied, but kept walking.

"Take care of yourself."

**LAAT/I gunship, en route to Special Operations Brigade HQ**

**from docked cruiser **_**Ambivalence**_**, Coruscant,**

**4 standard hours prior to the completion of**

**Alpha Squad's debriefing**

The crew bay of the LAAT/I gunship was devoid of the usual chatter that came with the end of a mission. Instead, a weary silence took its place. The four commandos of Alpha Squad sat and just listened to their own thoughts and the sound of the gunship's drives.

Breeze lay in the back, staring quietly up at the roof. He might have dozed off.

Diver was up front, taking his Deece apart and cleaning it. Sand and dirt always found a way into all the little gaps.

Top was cutting up a piece of fruit.

Mack thought it looked tantalizingly juicy, but he had no appetite for food. Instead, he stared down at the two halves of his helmet. If he pressed them together close enough, and let his vision blur, the old bucket almost looked like knew. But the T-visor was gone, its shattered pieces lost to the sand and debris of Aenolia. It was like a physical metaphor, a reflection of himself. He'd lost a piece back there, one he couldn't get back.

Top crossed the crew by and sat down next to Mack. He held out the larger half of the fruit for him to take. Mack looked at it for a moment, then up to meet his brother's eyes. He shook his head, grimly. Top sighed and patted Mack on the back.

_It's not enough,_ thought Mack, _Not after this hell of a mission._

**Special Operations Brigade HQ, Coruscant,**

**12 standard minutes later**

General Zey had been waiting for the commandos at the entrance of Brigade HQ; he never did that before. Alpha Squad stood to attention and saluted. When he said nothing, they walked by and down the hall toward the locker room. Halfway there, the squad passed an ARC lieutenant who stopped suddenly upon seeing Mack.

"_Fierfek_, your face looks rougher then a strill, friend." he said. The lieutenant removed his own helmet and revealed his own face was less then flawless. A ring of stitched-up wounds decorated the left side of his face, but seemed to do little to dampen his friendly demeanor.

"It's not as bad as it looks, sir." said Mack.

The ARC smiled. "Careful where you point that _sir_, you might hurt somebody."

Mack just stared at him blankly.

The ARC shrugged. "Look, the name's Ando. When they don't have me zipping around the galaxy, shooting the heads off battle droids, I like to play medic. You should let me have a look at those before they get infected."

"Better sooner then later, Mack." said Top.

Mack nodded followed Lieutenant Ando into a small med cubicle. "Just take a seat on the bench." said Ando. He took some sterile wipes, gauze, antiseptic spray, and bacta from the supply cabinet. "You gonna need something for pain?"

"No," Mack said, "I'm already numb."

Ando cocked an eyebrow in typical ARC fashion. "Aren't you dramatic?" he said dryly. He opened the package of wipes and started to clean the dirt and blood from around Mack's scrapes. "What's got you down? Unless my eyes are playing tricks, you didn't seem to be missing any of your squad brothers."

Mack shut his eyes. "No, but I lost someone else."

The teasing look vanished from Ando's face. "I see." He tossed the used up wipes into the trash bin in the corner.

Mack's eyes snapped open, glaring at Ando. "What the _shab_ do you see?" he sneered.

Ando took a step back and crossed his arms. "That someone you lost was a _she_." said Ando. Mack's glare softened a fraction. "You met her on the mission, couldn't take your eyes off of her. Before you knew what was happening, you started thinking crazy things. You fought together." Mack couldn't even look at the ARC now. "She starts feeling it too, and you don't want to let her go. Well, if it's not _exactly_ like that, it's close."

"How do you know?" This time, the question wasn't asked with resentment.

Ando dabbed at Mack's cuts with the gauze. "What, you think we ARCs are all stone-cold, Jango-trained robots?" Ando asked. "There's someone I care about too…someone I may have lost. I've _been_ you, friend."

Mack just hung his head in quiet agony. "For your sake, ner vod, I hope you're _never_ me."

**# # # #**

**Arca Company Barracks, SO Brigade HQ, Coruscant, 470 days after Geonosis,**

**1 standard hour after completion of Alpha Squad's debriefing**

"How did it go with Zey?" Top asked. He was laying on his back in his bunk, looking over one of the more interesting holozines Kal Skirata had left at the barracks for the commando squads.

"Same as always." answered Mack from the 'fresher. "He asked questions, I answered questions."

"Get any _osik_ from our friend from the Chancellor's office?"

"Zey sorted him. I don't think he liked rattling his saber at a Jedi Master when the Jedi Master rattles his real saber back."

Top smiled to himself. That smile sort of faded, though, when Mack stepped out of the 'fresher wearing his civvies from Alpha Squad's arm smuggling bust on Coruscant, three weeks ago. "What's with the civvy look?"

"I'm going out." said Mack.

Top sat up. "Out? Like _out_, out?"

"Why not? You heard Jusik, Zey says we've got the rest of the day and tomorrow off."

"I don't think he meant for you to go wandering Galactic City." said Top.

Mack scoffed. "As long as we show up ready to fight when he snaps his fingers, I don't think Zey really cares what his commandos get up to on their few off hours." He headed for the door.

"Mack, maybe you—"

"Goodnight, Top."

**Qibbu's Hut, entertainment district, Coruscant,**

**2350, 470 days after Geonosis**

Qibbu's Hut was a poorly named bar under the ownership of one Qibbu the Hutt; Mack wasn't very amused by the poorly disguised pun. But ever since Kal Skirata had talked the Senate's Head of Public Affairs into authorizing Generals to allow their troops short periods of leave, the bar had become the destination of troopers looking for a half-decent drink and some fun company. Tonight, however, the only clone Mack saw in the establishment was himself.

Some sort of alien music played over the bar speakers, barely audible over the other patrons. Every few moments, the sound of plastoid balls striking each other cracked over the noise as Mack found himself quickly getting better at pool. He laid the wood stick down and wandered over to the bar for a refill of whatever sweet-tasting alcohol the Duro bartender had first given him. Just as the bartender was approaching with bottle in hand, a specific kind of ruckus caught Mack's ear.

Just down the bar, a Twi'lek male was harassing a human female that Mack felt he recognized for some reason. Without thinking, he got up and walked over, leaning ominously on the bar behind the woman.

"Take a walk, friend. She's not interested." he said.

While the woman didn't turn around, the Twi'lek looked at him as though he might start trouble. "I didn't hear _her_ say that."

Mack stood to full height—a height that was considerably more then the Twi'lek's own—and fixed him with a dangerous look. "Then you need to get your ears checked, worm-head, 'cause I heard it all the way down there. And now you heard _me_ say it, so get lost."

The Twi'lek looked him over for a second, perhaps evaluating his chances. Finding them slim at best, he raised his hands in surrender and slunk away toward a table on the other side of the room.

"Hey, I don't need you frightening the custo—" Mack turned and looked at the second bartender, this one a Gran with VLET HAN on his name tab. "Oh, _kriff_. One of Skirata's clone bunch…" The Gran rolled his three eyes and walked away.

Now the woman turned, dark curls bouncing over her shoulders as she did. When she saw who her rescuer was, her brown eyes lit up. "Oh!" she said, sounding pleasantly surprised. "Thank you, trooper."

"Shayla?"

The two stared at each other for a moment before she burst into a smile. "You're one of Wirth's friends from Alpha Squad. Wait, don't tell me…Breeze?"

Mack forced a smile. "Mack, actually."

There was no hiding her embarrassment. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine." said Mack. "So what brings you to a dump like Qibbu's?"

"Hey, soldier boy, you forgot your drink!" the bartender from the other end called.

Mack waved it down.

Shayla smiled less then happily. "The same thing that brings you, I guess." There was a pause. "You know what today is—well, what it'll be in another ten minutes?"

Mack needed only a moment. "Two months now…"

"Yep." Shayla's eyes sparkled, tears waiting at the door. "Two months ago, I get your brother on my doorstep, telling me the only man who—_fierfek,_ well…you know."

"Yeah, I know." said Mack, taking a slow sip from the glass. When he lowered it from his lips, Shayla took her own, clinked it to his, and downed what was left. "You might wanna slow down a little."

"Why's that?" Shayla asked.

"Make it last longer."

"Plenty more where that came from."

Mack shrugged. "True enough." He took another drink, this time turning his own glass upside down. "Take it easy." he said, chewing the ice chunks as he went back to the pool table.

* * *

The chrono on the wall glowed 0210 in angry red digits. Most of the patrons had gone home, but there were still plenty of occupied seats and the late-shift crowd coming in for a drink. The same pretty dark-haired woman sat at the bar, and the same grizzled commando played at the bar's lone pool table.

"Hey, how much longer you fixing to hog the table?"

Mack looked up from the shot he'd been lining up to see an irritated looking Zabrak. "Hadn't thought 'bout it, really." he said, turning back to the table. There were several empty glasses lined up around the edge.

The Zabrak snorted. "Well, other people are waiting."

Mack shrugged, and sunk two balls with one shot.

"The least you could do is give somebody a chance to win that stick from you." the Zabrak continued.

Mack didn't take his eyes of the table. "W'll, maybe y'should _take_ it from me."

The Zabrak smiled. "Maybe I will." He took a step forward.

_Crack!_

Mack spun around and snapped the stick across the side of the Zabrak's face. The stick broke, the end flying off against the wall as the Zabrak stumbled and fell backward. "There's your _shabla_ stick! Now _usen'ye_, unless you want some further instruction?!"

"Mack!" Shayla ran across the bar and grabbed him, pulling him away before the inebriated commando could do anything further to the Zabrak. "Mack, come on!" Relenting to her grip, he let Shayla lead him out of Qibbu's and off to her speeder.

Inside, he leaned against the passenger door while Shayla lowered her head onto the steering yoke. Out of nowhere, she started laughing.

"What? What's s'funny?" Mack asked.

"Us."

"Us?"

Shayla looked up, shaking her head. "We couldn't be any more screwed up."

Mack just looked out the side viewport. "You have no idea." A hand reached out and touched his shoulder, and he found himself turning around right into a kiss. Mack pulled back suddenly. "What're you doing?" Shayla didn't answer, she just kissed him again. This time, he didn't pull away. Before Mack knew what was happening, Shayla had climbed over the center console and onto him, her legs straddling his lap as she continued to kiss him amorously.

For Mack, something broke down inside him and as he closed his eyes, he saw not the woman before him, but a gorgeous redhead with eyes like golden fire atop him. He reached up and ran his hand through scarlet hair as his other hand dipped under the hem of her shirt and caressed the smooth skin of her back.

For Shayla, something broke down inside her and as she closed her eyes, one clone became another and instead of this battered soul beneath her, she saw the carefree commando who had fallen into her life seemingly from nowhere, only to be plucked away just as randomly. She ran her left hand up a sinewy arm as the fingers of her right traced across a familiar strong jaw.

The seat tipped back; clothes were torn off and cast aside as both left the pain of their worlds behind for the escape in the arms of a kindred spirit.

**Shayla's Apartment, Coruscant, 471 days after Geonosis**

Mack lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling of the apartment. His head throbbing horribly as the sound of Shayla in the shower filtered in from the 'fresher.

_What am I doing here?_ Well, he knew the _what_. It was the _why_ that was bothering him. _What was I thinking?_ In truth—Mack knew—he _hadn't_ been thinking. He'd been a drunk _di'kut_.

Confusion and guilt weighed heavily on him. He felt like he had betrayed Wirth somehow. And the question of whether or not Shayla had just thought of him as a ready replacement also gnawed at him.

_Who am I to talk? It wasn't Shayla I saw myself with last night_.

"Mack? You okay?" He hadn't even heard the shower shut off, nor had he seen Shayla standing in the 'fresher doorway.

Mack found himself just staring, stupidly at her as he sat up. Water droplets on her dark curls glistened in the light like crystal shards; together with the moisture still covering her skin, it gave her a sort of beautiful ethereal glow. And the way the towel hung loosely around her body… _Wirth, you were one lucky man_. "Yeah. Fine."

Shayla gave a half smile as she crossed the room, sitting down next to him on the bed. She reached under the covers until she found his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "You know, for somebody whose in the same room as me, you look like you're a million miles away."

"It's nothing."

Shayla reached out and cupped her hand around Mack's chin, turning his head so she could look him in the eye. "That's an awful angsty nothing."

"Shay…I don't know what I'm doing here." Mack said quietly.

"Hey, look, if you're feeling bad about last night, don't worry. We were both drunk and looking for—"

"I used you." Mack blurted out.

"What do you mean?"

"I…forget it." said Mack, starting to go. "I'm just gonna leave." But Shayla gripped his hand tighter, and pulled him back.

"Mack, talk to me."

Before he knew it, Mack was spilling the events of the past day out for Shayla. He told her about the young shepherd boy. The first time Pari smiled at him, the explosion, and the kiss. He relayed her traumatic story in teary recollection, the words forever etched into his mind. He told her how he'd been ready to fight off the whole Aeolian army just to save her; he quoted Pari's last courageous wish. And his cold goodbye.

Mack told Shayla about the Zabrak from Qibbu's, and how, in that instant, he'd embodied everything he hated in the galaxy. He told her that when she kissed him, she'd become the avatar of everything he'd ever loved, lost, and longed for.

He poured out everything while she held his hand, rested her head on his shoulder, and listened.

**# # # #**

**Tipoca City, Kamino, 5 years before the Battle of Geonosis**

Mack ran in and skidded across the floor to the repulsorgurney where Mal lay. "Mal?" He looked up at his training sergeant. "Is he gonna be okay?"

"Son, you're gonna have to give us some room." said Sergeant Skirata. He was intently keeping pressure on the bleeding shoulder wound.

A hand reached up and caught Mack's arm, pulling him back a little. "Mack, relax. They've got it."

A Kaminoan female Mack didn't recognize was at Skirata's side, giving Mal something for the pain. "He is stable, but I am afraid he will need more medical attention then we can provide here with our bare hands." She spoke with more emotion then the young commandos had ever heard a Kaminoan use before, though it still wasn't much.

A second hand caught Mack's other arm as Jai now helped Top pull him away. "This is something you don't need to be seeing. Besides, Sergeant Gilamar's on his way and there's not enough room in here for two Mandos, a Kaminoan, and us."

As though on cue, the training facility's door slid open and Mij Gilamar came bounding in with his field bag of medical supplies. "Nala Se, how bad is it?"

When Top and Jai had managed to get Mack out, he'd worked himself up into a state. Tears swam down his cheeks even as he tried to wipe then away with his sleeves.

"Mack, you've gotta calm down." said Jai. "You know Mal. Tomorrow he'll just have a new scar to show off."

"He didn't have to do that." said Mack. "I had it under control, and he just…_gah!_ What an idiot!"

"Yeah, but hopefully this and the inescapable Skirata lecture to follow will mellow out his hot streak." said Top, putting on his best reassuring smile. "Skirata's gonna put his boot so far up…Mack?"

Mack wasn't listening. Instead, he was eyeing the Kaminoan just down the hall, talking to someone on a comlink.

"No, I am not sure how badly the unit's injury is. Nala Se made it sound quite severe, but we both know how _emotional_ she can be with the clones. Curious, isn't it?" There was a reply from whoever he was speaking with, but the young commandos couldn't make out what it was. "I agree. I am just preparing to see if we will need a replacement for Alpha Two-Nine."

"Hey, you!" Mack shouted, is tears seeming to burn away as his anger flared. Top and Jai didn't get a chance to grab him before he went storming down the corridor. "We don't need any replacement, you stinking piece of aiwha-bait, because my brother's gonna be fine!" Mack didn't exactly know what "aiwha-bait" was, but he'd pieced together from Skirata that it was an insult.

"Excuse me?"

"Excuse this!"

"CHECK!"

Mack froze, just before he could throw a punch at the Kaminoan. He turned and saw Skirata limping ferociously toward them. "Sorry, Sarge"

Skirata walked passed Mack and glared at the Kaminoan. "Sho La, is there any reason you're hanging about, other then to be a complete _shabla_ nuisance?" The Kaminoan drew himself up to full height, though it had little if any effect on Skirata. "_Usen'ye_, before the next thing I train these lads to do is make tatsushi. Got it?"

Sho La glared him for a moment, before lowering his head and making a hasty exit.

When Skirata looked over at Mack, all he could say was "Sorry" again.

Skirata patted the boy's shoulder. "Son, I didn't heard a word come out of your mouth you should be sorry for."

If he hadn't been embarrassed before, Mack was now. "You heard?"

"I'd be hard pressed to find somebody who didn't, this side of the city." said Skirata. He poked Mack teasingly in the chest. "Some powerful lungs you got there."

"Sarge, is Mal okay?"

Skirata smiled, ruffling the young commando's hair. "He's fine. Turns out Mij and Nala Se make a decent pair of partners. _Kaminii bal Mando'ad_...who'd of guessed?"

Mack breathed a long sigh of relief. "That's good."

"You did a good thing." said Skirata. Mack looked at him with confusion. His eyes were still red from crying. "You turned your sadness and worry into something you can use. Set that _chakaar_, Sho La, in his place. You remember to do that, you'll be something that'll give the aiwha-bait fits."

"What's that?"

Skirata leaned down, and whispered something in Mack's ear.

That was the last time Mack cried on Kamino, and for seven years after.

**# # # #**

Mack and Shayla lay on their backs, staring up at the ceiling of the apartment. The sound of Kyerie in the shower filtered into the room from the 'fresher down the hall.

The morning had been one of several revelations. They had both come clean about everything that had brought them to the place they were the previous evening. Shayla admitted to Mack that she had pretended he was Wirth, just as he'd pretended she was Pari. They had more in common then either ever would have believed. Most of it wasn't exactly good, per se, but it was a connection that went deep.

"I'm not Wirth." Mack said suddenly.

"I know." said Shayla. "And I'm not Pari."

"I know." said Mack. "I just wanted to make sure that we're not fooling ourselves any more."

"Now that we're living in the real world again," Shayla said, "where do we go now?"

**EPILOGUE**

**RAS **_**Memory**_**, in orbit over Ynos, Outer Rim, 496 days after Geonosis**

"Can I just say how much I hate this?" said Breeze.

"You can say it as much as you like, you're still doing it, soldier." said the small holo of Advisor Parjai—CC-867/5309, in front of them.

The four commandos of Alpha Squad were laid out inside orbital insertion drop pods. Each was narrow—barely wider then their armor—and resembled ancient naval torpedoes. It was also almost impossible to move your arms inside. There was a viewscreen and projector at the front, and a small, round viewport at the pod's head so that its occupant could see out.

"This really seems more like something HOPE Squad should be handling. This is what they specialize in, after all." said Breeze. He sounded nervous.

"It _is_, but they're busy." said Parjai.

"What about Delta?"

"They're on Doruuma. Why, you're not worried, are you, Breeze?"

"Sir, please don't antagonize my squad." said Top.

Parjai laughed. "Or you gonna rough me up like you did Kilo?" He heard Top groan and laughed. "Yeah, I heard about that one. We had a few good laughs about that one at barracks. Heard he almost ran afoul of our friend Maze, too."

"That he did." said Diver. "Luckily his brain cell kicked in and he walked away, eh Top?"

"You boys wanna keep it down," Top said good-humoredly, "Some of us are trying to concentrate before the mission."

"Yeah, about the mission…" Breeze said again.

"Breeze!"

"Okay, okay. I'll just shut my mouth and panic to myself."

"Good idea." said Diver.

Top switched his comms over to Mack. "How you doing over there, ner vod?"

Mack laughed. "Better then Breeze."

Top laughed too. "You reading again?"

"Yeah. She sent another one." said Mack. Text scrolled down Mack's HUD from Shayla's latest text comm. "She says hi. We're invited to Kyerie's birthday party if we make it back in time."

"Does that mean cake?" asked Breeze, cutting in as he'd become infamous for doing.

"It means you can quit drooling in your helmet." said Top. "Let her know I said we wouldn't miss it, Mack."

"Will do, Top."

A new frequency cut into their helmet links. "Alpha Squad, this RAS _Memory_ forward air control. We're over the target zone now. Prepare for launch."

"Roger that, FAC. We're ready when you are." said Top.

The lights inside the drop pods dimmed and turned to a dull red. The clamp mechanism disengaged. A moment later, the lights flashed green and all four pods were hurtling down toward the planet.

_Here we go again,_ thought Mack.

**# # # #**

"You remember to do that, you'll be something that'll give the aiwha-bait fits."

"What's that?"

Skirata leaned down, and whispered in Mack's ear. "You won't be a product anymore. You'll be a man. And more, you'll be a warrior."

**# # # #**

_Here we go again,_ thought Mack. _I'm a warrior, it's what I do. For my brothers, for my sarge… for my girl._

"Last one down's strill _osik_!" Mack called, laughing.


End file.
